public prosecutor

There are "indications" that former Minister Ivo Opstelten of Justice and Security urged the Public Prosecution Service in 2014 to prosecute PVV leader Geert Wilders for hate speech over statements he made about Moroccans, Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops said. He asked the court for "further investigation" into the question of whether the Minister influenced this case, Knoops said to RTL Nieuws.

Members of a group arrested in September on suspicion of preparing for terrorist attacks in the Netherlands, received terrorism training at a holiday park in Weert on the day of their arrest. The training consisted of learning to use handguns and Kalashnikovs and fitting bomb vests, RTL Nieuws reports based on its own research and information from multiple sources.

Authorities in the Netherlands will pursue a criminal case against a doctor accused of performing euthanasia on a 74-year-old incapacitated woman with dementia. Her prosecution will be the country's first against a doctor involving euthanasia since the Dutch law permitting the practice went into law over 15 years ago.

The court in Leeuwarden sentenced pro-Zwarte Piet activists to community service between 80 and 240 hours for preventing two buses of anti-Zwarte Piet protesters from reaching the national Sinterklaas arrival in Dokkum in November last year, NU.nl reports.

A child pornography and sexual abuse case in the Gelderland town of Alem may be much larger than the authorities believed. A 45-year-old man is already accused of making child pornography of eight children. But the Public Prosecutor now believes that there may be 20 more victims, was revealed in a pro-forma hearing in the court in Zutphen on Thursday, AD reports.

The Dutch police made a breakthrough in intercepting encrypted messages between criminals. They gained access to the server of chat app Ironchat and could read messages sent between criminals as they were sent, the police announced on Tuesday afternoon. Over a hundred suspects were identified and many arrests will follow, NU.nl reports.

Amsterdam is using a new method to crack down on money laundering in the hospitality industry. The administrative court ruled that the burden of evidence can be switched. Which means that Amsterdam can ask new restaurants or pubs to prove their money is clean before issuing a permit, NOS reports.

A 40-year-old police officer from the Zuid-West-Limburg district was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of computer intrusion and leaking police information, violation of official confidentiality, the Public Prosecutor announced.

So far the Prosecutor has no indications that the police officer leaked information to criminals or criminal organizations. "The investigation is still ongoing", the Prosecutor said.

No criminal offenses were discovered in the investigation into the suicide of Bosnian-Croatian war criminal Slobodan P﻿raljak in the court of the Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague last year, the Public Prosecutor concluded. The former general drank poison after the tribunal sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Former European Parliamentarian Paul van Buitenen is filing a complaint against TNO accusing the research institute of committing fraud during the investigation into the catastrophic fireworks explosion in Enschede in 2000, investigative journalism platform Follow the Money reported on Monday. This prompted SE Fireworks director Rudi Bakker to file a review request in an ultimate attempt to force the judiciary to re-do the entire investigation, RTV Oost reports.

An 18-year-old man suspected of violently raping an Indonesian student in Rotterdam in July, is also suspected of assaulting another woman that same day. According to the Public Prosecutor, Gerson F. grabbed the as-yet-unidentified victim from behind, put a hand over her mouth and groped her buttocks, RTL Nieuws reports.

A 46-year-old woman from Gouda was sentenced to institutionalized psychiatric treatment for stalking National Police Chief Erik Akerboom and his wife. The court in The Hague considered it proven that the woman sent the couple over 2,500 threatening emails. They sometimes received 50 per day, NOS reports.

In one email she wrote: "Do not come near me in my neighborhood Erik, because I will really break you". Another read: "No, I will not give you an extra day. Can I kill you or just wait like your predecessor?"

The police believe that a group of Moroccan criminals had help from a corrupt Tilburg police officer in 2014, the Public Prosecutor said in the criminal case against the former dog handler on Thursday, ANP report.

According to the Prosecutor, the officer gave the criminals police system information about the whereabouts of a rival. The information was used to put pressure on the rival's family. Attacks were carried out at the homes of the man's uncle, father and girlfriend in Nieuwegein in quick succession.

There must be harsher punishments for traffic violations, according to national traffic officer Achilles Damen. People who cause a serious accident must not get away with only a conditional driver's license suspension and community service, he said in an interview with the Telegraaf.

The court in Breda sentenced Klaas Otto, founder of outlaw motorcycle gang No Surrender, to six years in prison on Thursday. He was found guilty of extortion, assaulting and threatening two car dealers, and laundering 1.3 million euros, NOS reports.

According to the Public Prosecutor, now 4-year-old Insiya's abduction from her grandmother's Amsterdam apartment was done according to a "military plan". This plan was drawn up by suspect Willem V., was revealed in the court of Amsterdam on Monday. The 54-year-old man said in court that he completely misjudged the situation, NU.nl reports.

The Public Prosecutor 15 times used coercive measures against journalists over the past three years. These measures include eavesdropping on calls, retrieving phone data and requisition of journalistic materials, NRC reports based on information received through the Open Government Act.

In September Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security said in a letter to parliament that he knows about three incidents in which coercive measures were used against journalists, adding that the Public Prosecutor had "no other ongoing investigations".

Charles van der Voort, the Chief Public Prosecutor in Zeeland-West-Brabant, is resigning as of November 15th. At the Public Prosecutor's office there has long been complaints about a poor working atmosphere and a lack of transparency, NOS reports.

The national management of the Public Prosecution Service launched an investigation into the Zeeland-West-Brabant office last year. That investigation was recently completed and the results were discussed with the management at the regional office, but will not be made public for the time being.

Suspected jihadist 23-year-old Oussama A. from Utrecht is also suspected of committing a war crime because he posed with a dead body for a photo, the Public Prosecutor said in a pro-forma hearing against A. and fellow suspected jihadist 24-year-old Reda N. on Monday, NOS reports.

According to the Geneva Convention, it is forbidden to further dishonor someone who has already surrendered. The Public Prosecutor believes this also applies to someone who is dead. A. put the photo on Facebook.

A police officer was sentenced to 120 hours of community service, conditionally suspended, for firing four gunshots at a scooter rider in Groningen in April last year. The court in Groningen found her guilty of attempted aggravated assault and not acting according to the instructions of the police, NU.nl reports.

The 41-year-old officer was convinced that the scooter driver posed an acute danger. He met the description of a man who had threatened his parents with firearms, she said. The suspect was described as riding around on a red scooter, and maybe in possession of firearms.

Someone stole a large amount of cocaine from a police lockup in Curacao. The drugs had previously been confiscated by the police. The theft from the police terrain was discovered on Sunday morning at around 9:00 a.m., NOS reports.

The perpetrators forced two large metal doors to get to the drugs. Exactly how much cocaine was stolen, the Public Prosecutor on Curacao would not to say to NOS.

Later on Sunday a burning truck was found on the island. The police believe it may have been used in the robbery.

The Public Prosecutor demanded 6 months in prison against one of the 34 people suspected of blocking the A7 highway so that two buses carrying anti-Zwarte Piet protesters could not reach the national Sinterklaas arrival in Dokkum last year. The other 33 suspects face community service, NOS reports.